HARRISBURG — The 2022 State of Children’s Health report is showing an increase in the number of children in Pennsylvania without health insurance, but the opposite seems to be happening in the local region.
Between 2021 and 2022, the rate of children in Pennsylvania without health insurance increased significantly from 4.4% to 5.2%, despite Medicaid enrollees having uninterrupted access to health insurance that connects them to doctor visits, immunizations and well-visits that screen for physical and mental health, according to Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.
In McKean, Elk, Potter and Cameron counties, 2.89% more children had health insurance.
In a further explanation, the report noted there were 11,107 children younger than 21 living in McKean County; 7,477 in Elk; 4,456 in Potter; and 1,112 in Cameron. The rest of the data was the same for each county: Six percent of children under the age of 19 didn’t have health insurance; 4% of children under the age of six didn’t; and 7% between the ages of 6 to 18.
The report showed that 43% of the coverage for children was employer sponsored; 29% was Medicaid or CHIP; 16% had two or more types of coverage; 6% were uninsured; 4% had direct purchase coverage; 2% had other public coverage.
Five percent of children in the counties were financially eligible for Medicaid but were uninsured, the report noted. Medicaid is an essential source of coverage for Pennsylvania children with disabilities, those living in low-income families, and those living in and aging out of foster care.
Overall, Pennsylvania has the fifth highest number of uninsured children in the nation.
“We expected 2022 — the last full year of the pandemic and the Medicaid disenrollment freeze that came with it — to reflect at least stable coverage or even gains in connecting kids to health insurance,” said Kari King, President and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. “However, 145,000 Pennsylvania children are without health insurance.”
Pausing disenrollments during the pandemic significantly impacted the total number of Medicaid enrollees. Child enrollment in Medicaid increased by 22%, peaking at well over 1.4 million children.
Like most states, Pennsylvania is using a year-long process to unwind the disenrollment freeze and resume regular pre-pandemic eligibility and enrollment operations. Pennsylvania is one of 30 states that received a warning from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to assess and fix its eligibility systems so eligible children and their families can remain enrolled in Medicaid.
“The issue is how some states have been conducting automated renewals, also known as ‘ex parte’ renewals, that are causing improper disenrollments for those still eligible, especially children,” King said. “One child without health insurance is too many and we need to fix any system errors causing children to be disconnected from vital health care coverage.”
In addition, during the same month the Medicaid unwinding began, DHS moved forward with an IT eligibility systems transition for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, despite advocates’ concerns about the timing and urging the state to exercise its flexibility to delay. This transition of eligibility processing and determinations from the CHIP managed care organizations (MCOs) to caseworkers in local DHS County Assistance Offices (CAOs) has caused complications, mainly falling on families.
To keep children connected to their health insurance, she said her organization is urging the state Department of Human Services to immediately restore Medicaid coverage for children who needlessly lost it during the automated “ex parte” renewals error; and support multi-year continuous eligibility in Medicaid for children during a critically important developmental period from birth to kindergarten.
